Struggling with the Spirit of Pharisaism

Introduction: The Pressure of Parental Aphorisms and Ministry Continuity

0:03 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, November 3, 2002, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, most of you gathered here in this place this morning will know that I had the unspeakable privilege of being reared in a Christian home, a home in which my father and mother were committed not only to passing on to me and to my nine siblings the essential truth of the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus,

0:41 but they were also committed to passing on to me and to my siblings those principles of Christian character essential to living to God's glory in God's world. And some of those principles were encapsulated in little aphorisms. An aphorism? Is a pithy, stickable statement which embodies matters of great importance.

1:14 And among those aphorisms, some of you have heard the first one before, a job worth doing is worth doing well. But that had a twin, and it was this, a job worth starting is worth completing. And so those little statements, rang in my ears and often were the basis of some very firm, loving, parental admonition and also chastisement. For a job worth doing is indeed worth doing well.

1:57 And if I did not do that job worth doing as well as I could, there were consequences. And likewise, with respect, with respect to the job worth starting, that is, worth completing, whatever pressures were necessary to be brought upon me to complete a given task, I thank God those pressures were brought upon me. Well, it's that second statement that has exerted its pressure upon me years, decades after leaving the direct influence of my mom and dad. It's that pressure of that second aphorism

2:38 that has exerted pressure with respect to the ministry of the word this morning and next Lord's Day. Now let me explain. Some months ago, I began a series entitled The Blessings, Privileges, Liabilities and Dangers of the Second Generation. I brought five messages on that subject, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in,

3:08 and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and then my eye surgery and other factors broke in, and Lord's Day. Because some months have passed since we last addressed the subject, what I propose to do is to condense into 10 minutes, five hours of exposition and application. Now, if you think

3:52 that's an easy task, come into my study sometime and try to do it. So I'm going to be riveted to my notes more closely than I ordinarily would be for the first 10 minutes, so that I don't, in looking at you, get drawn out and find my 10 minutes expanded into 20 minutes, and I don't cover what I believe I should cover this morning. And as I do this, I want to remind the adults who are here, these things are as crucial to you as they are to the rising generation of young men and women and children. For these things ought to frame your thinking as you interact with your children and the young people among us, and even more so, they ought to frame your thinking as you

Defining the Second Generation and Its Privileges

4:34 frame your prayers on their behalf, that amidst all of the unusual and concentrated privileges and advantages that are theirs, that they may avoid by the grace of God the dangers and the pitfalls that come with those privileges and those advantages. Well, I began the series by identifying what I mean by the descriptive term, the second generation. And this is how I did it. Those young men and women and children who've never known any other major molding influence but that of their parents and the teachers in this place who are members of this assembly.

5:17 We're speaking of parents whose children have had the molding influence of the church upon the parents mediated to those kids through those parents and teachers. There's been no major change. There's been no major church influence but this congregation and its ministry. And in recent days, the majority of the applications for baptism and church membership have come from this second generation as I have defined it.

5:50 And therefore, it is crucial for us to think clearly and biblically with respect to the peculiar privileges and dangers of that second generation. Thank you. Then proceeded to identify the privileges of the second generation under two major categories. Category number one, you of the second generation have been sovereignly and graciously surrounded with the God-appointed means of saving grace.

6:24 You have been sovereignly and graciously surrounded with the God-appointed means of saving grace. The knowledge of the second generation. The scriptures, the example and influence of authentic Christians, clear, passionate, biblical preaching of the gospel, and the earnest, persevering prayers of your parents and the people of God. And your second great privilege is this.

6:52 You have been lovingly and carefully nurtured in a biblically framed, total character molding context. You have been lovingly and carefully nurtured. You have been lovingly and carefully nurtured in a biblically framed, total character molding context. You have been lovingly and carefully nurtured in a biblically framed, total character molding context.

Liabilities of the First Privilege: Means of Grace

7:10 The pattern of our Lord's development as described in Luke 2, 51 and 52 has been the pattern of your nurture. I then sought to identify the peculiar liabilities and dangers arising from that first category of blessing. The liabilities related to the fact that you of the second generation have been sovereignly and graciously surrounded with the God-appointed means of saving grace. And I said there were three dominant liabilities growing out of that wonderful privilege.

7:52 They were these. You of the second generation will be especially susceptible to the agonizing struggles that can come with the question of the assurance of your salvation. I did not say you must of necessity experience agonizing struggles, but you will be especially susceptible. What is mine?

8:15 What has been given to me? What have I internalized? What is the prop that my parents have put around me? What is mine by faith and conviction?

8:27 You of the second generation, who have been surrounded sovereignly and graciously with the God-appointed means of saving grace, this is one of the liabilities of that privilege, especially susceptible to agonizing struggles with the assurance of your salvation. Secondly, you of the second generation will be especially susceptible to the damning delusion of presumption concerning your salvation. That is because you've been surrounded with the means of saving grace, you will presume that those means must be effective in you when there is no solid biblical grounds to believe

9:11 that those means have been effective to your salvation. And thirdly, you of the second generation are especially liable to the danger of neglect and hardness of heart with respect to your own salvation. And we looked at Hebrews 2, 1-4 and Psalm 95, 7-11. The frightening possibility of neglecting so great a salvation.

Introducing the Liabilities of the Second Privilege: Character Nurture

9:38 Now this morning I want to begin to address the peculiar dangers and liabilities associated with the second great privilege and blessing of the second generation. I describe that privilege and blessing in this way. You have had the privilege and blessing of being lovingly and carefully nurtured in a biblically framed total character molding context. There are many of you sitting here who presently are in that context.

10:11 Its fundamental framework is Ephesians 6-4. And you fathers provoke not your children to wrath but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord. You have the unspeakable privilege of being in a context that is defined by that fundamental, fundamental framework. Parents committed not unnecessarily to provoke you to anger but to nurture you, all that makes you you, to bring it to maturity by means of chastening and admonition, by a system of rewards and punishments, and by careful instruction.

10:54 And the specific components of that nurture, as I already indicated, are Luke 2, 51 and 52. Jesus grew in wisdom, in stature, in favor with God and man. There is a commitment to your intellectual and moral development, your physical development, your spiritual development, your social and interpersonal relational development. There is a commitment to the totality of who and what you are.

11:24 In all of this, you've been surrounded with a truth-based, God-centered view, of all of life and reality. Now, this great privilege and blessing, sovereignly granted to you, while withheld from the vast majority of the world's children and young people, also has its peculiar dangers and liabilities. And I propose to address the first of those liabilities this morning and the remaining two next Lord's Day. And what is the first great danger and liability of being lovingly and carefully nurtured

12:05 in a biblically-framed, total character-molding context? Here it is. This is all we're going to focus on this morning. Here's the danger.

The Basis for Concern: External Pressure vs. Internal Change

12:16 You who have this blessing will be especially liable to a lifelong struggle with the spirit of Phariseeism. You will be especially liable to a lifelong struggle with the spirit of Phariseeism. Now, in opening up this area of concern, I propose to do two things in the time that remains. First, to explain the basis for this concern.

12:48 And then, secondly, to focus on two specific aspects of the spirit of Phariseeism to which you will be especially liable. So I'm going to seek to open up the basis for the concern and then focus on two specific aspects of this spirit of Phariseeism. All right? Number one, an explanation of the basis for this concern.

13:15 Why in the world should I as a pastor be concerned that in having this marvelous, sovereignly given privilege of a Bible-based, total character-molding context, why in the world should I be concerned? Why should you be concerned? Why should the church family be concerned? Well, let me try to answer that.

13:40 If you've been privileged to be reared in this biblically-framed, total character-molding context, this means that there is no area of life and conduct which has been exempt from the pressure of your parents, your teachers, and your pastors in an effort to help you to think and act biblically. You have and are experiencing the pressure from every side of Ephesians 6-4, of Deuteronomy 4, Deuteronomy 6, wherever you go, whatever comes into your life, mom and dad, teachers and pastors all the time pressuring you, this is what the Bible says, this is how you ought to think according to the Bible,

14:25 this is how you ought to relate according to the Bible, this is what you ought to do according to the Bible. Moreover, to the extent that this pressure has been biblical, it has been aimed at more than mere external conduct. It has been carried on and is being carried on with the constant concern that these things that form the context of this biblically-based, total character context of nurture will get into your heart, your parents, your teachers, your pastors believe, guard your heart above all that you guard, for out of it

15:09 are the issues of life. Proverbs 4-23, the emphasis of Ted Tripp's book, Shepherding Your Child's Heart. The title of the book is not regulating your child's conduct, but shepherding your child's heart. However, while your parents, your teachers, your pastors, may and do constantly aim at heart issues and emphasize the necessity of considering the state of your heart, they have no power to change your heart.

15:51 This work is God's prerogative and His alone.

15:57 Listen to God's Word clearly affirming this reality. Ezekiel chapter 36, and verse 26. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances and do them. God says this is my prerogative to get your heart.

16:40 Mom and Dad and teachers and pastors have an obligation to bring the pressure of the Word of God upon you from every aspect of your life. They must do so constantly reminding you of the rising generation. The real issue, kids, is your heart. Where is your heart?

17:02 But alas, they have no power to give you a new heart, to internalize, all of this biblical pressure about thinking biblically about this and that, acting biblically in every facet of life. It is God and God alone who can give the new heart. Again, in Jeremiah 31, a similar emphasis, and I'm pausing to read these passages to underscore this reality because it has tremendous significance in what I want to say to you this morning in Jeremiah 31, and verse 33. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord.

17:45 I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. God says I alone have the power to internalize my truth. It's my power.

18:08 It's my work. I can do it. I am determined to do it, but I alone can do it. Meanwhile, until God does His work of granting a new heart that will desire and delight to engage in the kind of behavior which flows from a renewed heart, parents must demand and enforce the patterns of life mandated by the Word of God.

18:37 You follow what I'm saying? Only God can put these things in the heart. Meanwhile, what do we do? Do we as parents and teachers and pastors say, oh well, since God puts it in the heart, we don't want to make a bunch of hypocrites, so we'll just let you go wherever you want to go.

18:55 In your thinking, in your actions? No. We have a responsibility by admonition and by discipline to enforce biblical standards of thought and behavior. For example, we must teach and enforce the disciplines of real vertical piety.

19:20 We must teach our children to pray. We must structure into their schedule time to read their Bibles. We must insist that they sit with us and are engaged in family worship. Not sit there looking out the window glassy-eyed, but we say, son, look at me in the eye.

19:42 What is daddy saying? What does the passage say? We must enforce the disciplines of vertical piety. The study of the Word of God.

19:55 Prayer. Family worship. Teach them the catechism. Make them sing in family worship.

20:03 And listen to me, parents. Make them sing in church.

20:09 It is wicked for children to sit mute in church. God commands them to praise Him and you as a parent have an obligation to enforce that command.

20:26 That's our task. That's our responsibility. We must teach and enforce emotional self-control.

20:36 We must teach and enforce it. We cannot allow them to think they can go into life just following their emotions wherever they lead them. No. These are our responsibilities.

20:47 Furthermore, parents must teach and enforce the attitudes and actions of horizontal piety.

20:55 We must insist in respectful speech to mom and dad.

21:02 We must insist kind speech to their siblings.

21:09 We must, as parents, teach them to own their sins and to seek forgiveness from their siblings, from their parents, and extend forgiveness.

21:22 We must teach and enforce the attitudes and actions of horizontal piety. We must do that.

The Problem: Respectability Without Regeneration

21:34 Now here's the problem.

21:37 What's the result of all of this? It means that unless someone who has had the benefit of this kind of Bible-based total character nurture of the whole person, unless that person coming to years throws it all over, and becomes foul-mouthed, coarse, boorish,

22:06 insensitive to people, no desire for God, His Word, His people, unless they do that, and some do, all that wonderful Bible-based total character nurture will cause an unconverted child who has never known the internalization of these things by the Holy Spirit to be a respectable, upright, well-adjusted, responsible young adult.

22:38 And there ain't nothing wrong with that as far as it goes. As far as it goes.

22:50 So what's the problem? I've tried to describe the circumstances that create the problem. Now, secondly, an identification of two specific aspects of this concern. And here they are.

23:04 You who have known this kind of nurture, and you ought to bless God daily if you have.

23:13 I cannot thank God enough for parents that sought with their limited light in terms of the ministry they were under to enforce both the disciplines of vertical piety and horizontal piety.

23:34 When I would have no inclination to go to my siblings and say, I was wrong, will you forgive me? It was either do it or get my backside whomped until I did.

23:46 I cannot remember I cannot remember ever speaking a disrespectful word to my father or my mother. To me, that would have been like signing my death warrant.

23:57 You hear me, kids? And if any of you moms and dads are not enforcing these disciplines, God have mercy on you. You are failing in your biblical duty.

24:09 But now you've done that. And you've been praying and you've been making plain to your kids as my parents did to me when word would get back from the neighborhood that I had done something wrong or I had used up my time or I had used up my time or I had used some bad language when everyone went to bed and they said, Sonny, that was I was Sonny until I was 20. Sonny, we want to talk to you tonight. I knew it was judgment day.

24:31 My mom and dad would sit down with me when everyone else had gone to bed and they'd confront me with the aberrant behavior. And then they'd always go for my heart. And they'd say, Sonny, until you're converted and until you have a new heart, these things are going to continue. And they'd press the gospel on me as best they could.

24:51 And they'd say, I thank God for that. But until God did that internalization work, I was propped up by this total character nurture that kept me from a thousand sins. And when God did the internal work, it put me so much further down the road in seeking to become what God would have me to be. So what's the problem?

Specific Aspect 1: Pharisaic Externalism

25:19 Well, let's look at two aspects of concern. Number one, you will be able You will be especially liable to a lifelong struggle with Pharisaic externalism. And secondly, with Pharisaic pride and judgmentalism. First of all, you who have had this kind of nurture, whether you become a Christian or not, you will have a peculiar liability to a lifelong struggle with Pharisaic externalism.

25:52 Now, I did not say you will necessarily have a lifelong struggle, nor am I saying you will inevitably succumb to Pharisaic externalism. What I'm saying is you will be especially liable to a lifelong struggle with Pharisaic externalism. And what do I mean by that? Now I want you to open your Bibles with me as well to Matthew chapter 23.

26:16 Hear our Lord in His most scathing denunciation of any group of people. Perhaps the only close parallelist is in Matthew 11. Woe unto you, Chorazin! Woe unto you, Bethsaida!

26:30 Here He is indicting the scribes and the Pharisees. Now notice what He says, beginning in verse 25. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full from extortion and excess.

26:52 You blind Pharisees cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

27:29 Now that's what I'm talking about when I say Pharisaic externalism. In verses 25 and 26 it's the contrast between the outside condition and the inside condition. The exothen and the esothen in the Greek. Only one letter changes outside and inside.

27:53 And He says, You're like a cup and platter that's been scoured and beautifully cleansed on the outside, but on the inside full of uncleanness. And then with regard to these whitewashed sepulchres, one commentator said that there was a tradition that before the Passover the Jews would go and whitewash their sepulchres so that they would stand out with the brilliance of the new whitewash so that in preparation for the Passover, no one would become unclean by inadvertently rubbing his shoulder against Uncle Harry's sepulchre. And the Lord says it's whitewashed. The sun rises and strikes it at the right angle

28:38 and you're almost blinded by it. It looks as though someone plastered New Fall in Snow on the sepulchre. Oh, look. Jacob's sepulchre.

28:47 Beautiful. Jesus said, Roll the stone away and stick your head in. Take a whiff.

28:55 Get a flashlight. Look in. Dead men's bones. Rotting flesh in the stench of it all.

29:03 Outwardly, you appear, but inwardly, you are. There's the contrast. You appear, but you are. What you are, Jesus said, is what's on the inside, not what appears on the outside to men.

29:22 Now, when you have had the benefit of a biblically framed total character nurture, this will be your temptation. Because that nurture has so entered into who and what you are that you cannot help unless you throw it all over. You cannot help but appear beautiful unto men. And especially in this coarse, vile, profane generation.

30:02 You go into society and you're not considerate, kind, thoughtful, trustworthy, upright, and honest. You appear beautiful.

30:23 But the question is, what are you on the inside?

30:31 And have you come to the place where your greatest concern is not how you appear, but what you are. And your heart is what you are.

30:47 Not what men see.

30:50 Remember the words of 1 Samuel 16, 7. Man looks on the outward appearance because that's all he can do. But God looks.

31:04 And it's what God sees that must become the most passionate concern to you and to me. Otherwise, to some degree, we are held in the horrible grip of Pharisees and Pharisees. It's a state of mind of externalism. Pharisaic externalism is a state of mind in which a man is concerned with how he appears before men far more than being concerned with what he really is before God.

31:40 I want to talk to you young people and you children. You're going to be liable to a lifelong battle with Pharisaic externalism. Let me try to illustrate. The guy that knows by what he sees in the mirror and the consensus of those around him that he ain't no good looker.

31:59 I mean, he's just got average looks. He knows. He's no Clark Gable or Robert Redford revisited. I mean, he knows.

32:10 He's ordinary looking. He's thankful. He ain't ugly. But he knows he's not handsome.

32:16 And try as he may, he's never going to have anything more than a probably 38-inch chest. He just didn't put together that he can pump some iron and the rest. And be Mr. Impressive.

32:27 He knows that his face and his form is never going to be a head-turner. All right? He's faced that.

32:36 You see, if he's in touch with reality, he'll not have a lifelong struggle with temptation to pride about his face and his form. But the man that knows that God gave him a handsome face and God gave him a fair form,

32:53 he has a lifelong struggle with his peculiar vulnerabilities to pride because of his face. And his form. Well, you see, in the same way, the majority of the kids being reared out there in Montville,

33:11 today,

33:14 with parents out of the home, no commitment to the molding of their whole character.

33:23 There's very little about them that's attractive.

33:31 Britney is molding the girls so they think the essence of womanhood is showing off your belly button and bearing half your belly button. And the men, they're models the foul-mouthed M&M with his horrible, brutal mentality to women, raw barnyard sexuality, or the chest-thumping middle linebackers with all their bravado and all of their stinking, rotten, look at me stuff like a bunch of apes thumping their chest

34:16 in a zoo.

34:20 Not much attraction. But you go out into that context.

34:26 It won't be long before it will be known that you have a fair face and a fair form in terms of your character.

34:36 You could so easily slip into Pharisaic externalism and cease to have a passionate concern for what's here. Jesus said, Blessed are the what? Pure in heart, for they shall see God. You need to cry to God, you kids of the second generation.

35:06 Search me, oh God. And know my what? Know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts.

35:15 See if there be any wicked way where? Not on the outside of me. Any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting.

35:28 Another example of this Pharisaic externalism, I'll just touch on it briefly. Matthew 15, verse 8.

35:38 Here the Lord again is addressing the Pharisees. We know that from verse 1. There came to Jesus from Jerusalem Pharisees and scribes saying, and in the midst of addressing them, note what he says in verse 7. You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

36:04 You reared in a home where you're made to honor God with your lips. Like these, Orthodox strict Jews were. They were taught how to say the Shema every morning, every night.

36:18 They were taught how in the rituals of synagogue and temple worship to draw near with their lips. They weren't like the Goyi, the hordes of the Gentile pagans who had no knowledge of how God was to be approached with lips or anything else.

36:37 It was the privileged Jew. But these were content that the lips were saying the right thing at the right time in the right place. They had no concern for where the heart was. Oh, I beg you, you precious children and young people, young adults of the second generation, beware, beware of Pharisaic externalism.

37:06 I worship by the regulative principle. I would not support worship with a stage full of instruments, and entertainment, and all the rest. No, no. I'll worship the right way with my lips,

37:29 but where's your heart? When's the last time your mind and heart were dull and distracted through a whole worship service and you went home and fell on your face feeling as unclean as if you'd spent the night before in an illicit, immoral, sexual relationship?

37:48 Did you rob God this glorious, infinite, marvellous, wonderful being? You robbed Him of your heart.

38:00 Your lips said the right thing in the right place, in the right way. But where was your heart?

38:08 I don't mean to scold you, dear people,

38:13 but the slide of any church that vibrates with truth and life does not begin with throwing over orthodoxy. It begins with accepting something less than the heart. In the midst of that orthodoxy. That's why I'm pleading with you, you of the second generation, beware of your peculiar vulnerability to the sin of Pharisaic externalism.

Specific Aspect 2: Pharisaic Pride and Judgmentalism

38:47 But now more briefly, the second aspect that I want to focus on this morning, beware of Pharisaic pride and judgmentalism. And here the basic passage to which I direct your attention is the Gospel of John. The Gospel of Luke where our Lord Jesus again focuses in upon another dimension of the Pharisees' defective perspectives on the most vital issues. Verse 9, And he spoke also this parable unto certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and said it not, that is, they despised, looked down their snoot

39:32 at all others. And here's the parable. Two men went up into the temple to pray. The one, a Pharisee, the other, a publican.

39:42 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you that I'm not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week. I get tithes of all that I get. But the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven.

40:07 But smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner, thee sinner. I say unto you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone that exalts himself shall be humbled. And he that humbles himself shall be exalted. Because of his outward life, which was indeed more righteous than others.

40:34 He wasn't saying something untrue as to his external patterns of life. When he said, God, I thank you, I'm not as the rest of men. Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or a swindler like a publican. He had influences brought to bear upon him in his training and his upbringing which he had not thrown over,

40:58 which produced this decent life.

41:03 But what was the result of it? He comes into the temple proud as a peacock spreading its tail feathers, disdainful of others who don't come up to his standard of outward behavior both morally and religiously.

41:23 That's what he does. Pride and judgmentalism.

41:30 And that's going to be a lifelong struggle with some of you.

41:35 You will see people whose moral patterns are absolutely dissolute.

41:43 They have abandoned every semblance of any attempt to be obedient to any one of the Ten Commandments. And you know what your temptation is going to be? Isn't that disgusting? I thank you, God.

42:05 I'm not like him. Thank you, God. I'm not like her. And furthermore, God, my religious activity is impeccable.

42:17 I fast. I tithe. Et cetera, et cetera.

42:27 You're going to be tempted to that. Are there things in the sinful patterns of men that are disgusting? Yes. But hear me carefully.

42:38 The genuine spirit of disgust is never one in which we feel that we are inherently better than the one who disgusts us. But we can say from the depths of our being, if God had let me loose, in spite of all of my nurture and training and discipline and hedges, if God had let me loose, to be and to do what's in my heart, I'd be and do worse than he or she. And we believe it with every cell of our being. And we know that

43:23 if we've been in a state of grace for decades, if God took his hand off us for a day,

43:31 a day, there's nothing these hearts of ours would not lead us to do.

43:40 Nothing. Nothing.

43:44 Nothing. God has not given you your privileges of Christian nurture to make you a proud, judgmental Pharisee, but to make you a grateful, humble child of God who's ready like Paul to spend and be spent that the vile and the unclean and the lawless who have never known that nurture may hear of a compassionate Savior who, though he was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, there's only one kind of person

44:28 that felt uncomfortable around Jesus. That was Pharisees.

44:34 Harlots felt free to come in and wash his feet with hair and teeth,

44:42 confident there'd be no rejection.

Antidotes to Pharisaic Externalism

44:48 Well, what I want to do in the time that remains, I want to build some practical antidotes for this Pharisaic externalism. That will be the danger of the rising generation in this place. What's the antidote to externalism? Well, for you young people and children, always remember, as I've already quoted the text,

45:13 that God looks on the heart and it's the pure in heart that shall see God and that the only way for you to have a pure heart, Acts 15.9, purifying their hearts by faith. You see, you're at nurture. And your training can bring Christ as it were to the door of your heart.

45:36 But the Spirit of God alone can open the heart and bring Him in. And have your heart cleansed by faith. And so the great issue is I must have dealings with Jesus myself. I must have heart dealings with Christ and His salvation.

45:57 And for you parents, don't be satisfied with the mere control of the conduct of your children. Press the issues of the heart. Pray for the work of God in the heart of your children.

46:11 Or you may produce some very, very, very convincing Pharisees.

46:22 I'm concerned when I overhear and my scuttlebutt comes back into my ear some of the children in this church who are very, very quick to judge even their peers.

46:37 She wears shorts. She wears jeans. God have mercy on us, friends, if we're raising a bunch of kids who judge others in terms of the kind of clothes they wear.

46:58 And I could go on into other things.

47:04 If you're content with externals,

47:09 you rear your children with all the emphasis on externals, you may produce some very, very efficient Pharisees who will be crippled and unable to minister to needy sinners. But then what's the antidote for Pharisaic pride in judgmentalism? Well, for you young people and children, ask God to show you your heart and its real potential for sin. The Bible says in Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Antidotes to Pharisaic Pride and Judgmentalism

47:46 Jesus said in Matthew, Mark chapter 7, verses 20 to 23, for from within, out of the heart proceed. And then he mentions every form of sin. Dr. A.W. Tozer,

48:00 that many called him a 20th century prophet, small letter P. But he had a keen insight into the shallowness and into some of the great needs of evangelicalism about a half a generation ago. He went to be with the Lord in the mid-1960s. It was my privilege to have several occasions before the Lord took him to spend time in the presence of that rare man of God.

48:28 And I shall be with you and I shall never forget hearing Tozer say, everyone called him just Tozer. He said, the most sickening, disgusting sight I have ever seen in my life is my own heart. The most sickening, disgusting sight I've ever seen in my whole life is my own heart. Can you say that?

49:02 If so, there's no pride, no judgmentalism, all you say is, but for the grace of God. There go I. There go I. Always remember 1 Corinthians 4, 7.

49:21 What have you that you did not receive? Why do you glory as though you had not received it? What have you that you did not receive? Yes, you've received and continue to receive manifold benefits from this Bible-based, total character, molding context.

49:40 Bless God! God for it! I shall go to my grave blessing God for it in my own life. Before I was conceived, did I walk up in some form or another to the throne of God and say, God, I'd like to be conceived in the womb of that 21-year-old woman that loves you and knows you, married to that 29-year-old man or 27-year-old man that is committed to serve you.

50:09 No, I didn't do that. I could have been conceived in a home where the Bible and the name of God was only mentioned in blasphemy. Where mother and father lived like animals and taught me to curse and swear. And where my father would have introduced me to the world of illicit sex when I came into puberty.

50:30 I talked to men. That's been their experience. Albert, what do you have that you did not receive? Oh God, nothing.

50:39 Nothing. Nothing. It's all been received.

50:45 I could have had a Christian mother and father. That had this shallow notion. All we need to do is tell them about Jesus and get them to make a decision. And God will do all the rest.

50:55 But there was my mother on her knees when I'm scrubbing the floor. Son, get the corner. No job worth doing is worth doing well.

51:07 Son, you were wrong. Tell your sister I was wrong. Will you forgive me? No, no, no.

51:14 Not with that look on your face. You'll get spanked unless that look goes off your face. It's patient.

51:24 Hands on. Meticulous commitment. What have I that I didn't receive? Nothing.

51:33 You of the second generation. What do you have that you didn't receive?

51:39 Mom and dad plunking out money that would mean a nice nest egg in retirement to put you in a Christian school.

51:51 Dad busting his hump moonlighting jobs to pay his bills at the Christian... What have you that you didn't receive?

51:58 What are you doing strutting around like a big, big shot? Looking down your snoot at others? What have you that you did not receive? Nothing.

52:10 Nothing. Nothing.

52:14 And then for you parents,

52:17 ask God to give you discernment that when you see the outcroppings of Pharisaic pride in judgmentalism, you go after it like you'd go after your kids speaking cuss words.

52:28 Let them know that in your house that is a wretched sin that will not be tolerated. I thank God again. You say, you're bragging on your parents. Yes, I am.

52:43 I've got biblical grounds. They'll rise up and call her blessed.

52:47 I've come home with straight A's.

52:51 Now, folks would say, son, God's been good to you, given you a good mind. But remember, he's given you that mind to serve.

53:05 Never stroked us to make us feel we're some kind of big shot because we came home with straight A's. Got chosen to have the lead in the school operetta and all. Never, never stroked him. We're fondled in a way that made us feel we're, oh, we're really something special in God's word.

53:26 Your parents, what are you doing with your kids? You're stroking them in a way that's going to feed this tendency to pride and judgmentalism.

Conclusion: The Ultimate Antidote – Christ as Life

53:37 You're teaching them the grace of humility. What have you that you did not receive? Well, God willing, we're going to deal with two more dangers next week. Two more liabilities connected with the blessings of being the recipients of a biblically framed total character molding context.

53:57 We've dealt with pharisaic externalism. We'll deal next week, God willing, with soul-shribbling legalism and soul-crippling materialism.

54:10 And as I said, Lord, what is the one great antidote for it all? Let me tell you what it is. It's found in one verse of the Bible.

54:21 Here it is. For to me, to live is Christ.

54:28 To me, to live is Christ.

54:31 To have such an obsession with the Lord Jesus that all of my privileges and all of the wonderful influences that God has sovereignly brought into my life have all brought me to this place where the Lord Jesus is the pearl of great price. And my one passion is to know Him, to serve Him, and to please Him. Dear children and young people, that's the great end of all this nurture. We want to see you so enamored with Jesus that you outstrip in your passion for Him.

55:10 Outstrip us in your commitment to serve Him. Outstrip us in likeness to Christ.

55:18 All of this blessed by the Spirit and internalized by the Spirit and nurtured in your own walk with God. May you be able to say for to me to live is Christ. Christ. Christ is my life.

55:35 Christ is my passion. Serving Christ. Honoring Christ. Giving myself wholly to Him.

55:44 And then when God is pleased to suit His seal of blessing upon it in one degree or another, you will then be able to say, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is all come to me from the wounds of immolated incarnate deity.

Prayer

56:09 Purchased it all and brought it to me by His grace. Let's pray.

56:22 Our Father, how we thank You for Your Word that is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. And we love this rising generation, young men and women, boys and girls. And we long, our Father, that they would be kept from the peculiar liabilities and dangers that are theirs because of the marvelous and wonderful privileges with which You have surrounded them. And we would lovingly commend them to You and beg of You, our Father, that they may not fall prey to Pharisaic externalism, that they would be content with nothing less than a new heart

57:06 and a heart that beats in love to Christ and a heart that is jealous to be guarded from any secret idols. O Lord, we ask that their hearts will be guarded above all that they guard, knowing that out of them are the issues of life. We pray that You would, in Your grace and in Your mercy, keep them not only from Pharisaic externalism, but from Pharisaic pride and judgmentalism. Make them a humble bunch of young men and women who acknowledge that they have nothing but what they've received and that left to themselves they would be as vile as any that they've had to live.

57:50 They've never set their eyes upon. O God, we do ask You to do this, believing that this is agreeable to Your will, and therefore we plead that You would, for Jesus' sake, grant our request. Help us as parents and pastors and teachers and grandparents that we will be committed by Your grace to do all within our powers, by our prayers and by our interaction with the rising generations to see that these issues are not subtly set up in their hearts, but, O God, use us to help them to work through these dangers and liabilities. May we be honest

58:34 and transparent with them concerning our own struggles. Father, we ask You to seal Your Word. We plead these mercies in Jesus' name. Amen.